Saturday, May 10, 2003
M A I N   F E A T U R E


LOOKING AHEAD
 Will the robot replace the maidservant?
Shirish Joshi

This is what your future companion could look like
This is what your future companion could look like

MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries of Japan have developed a robot called Wakamaru, which combines the roles of nurse, companion and security guard. It will be available soon to help the senior citizens of Japan, who live alone and have no one to look after them.

The robot can patrol a house 24 hours a day, alerting family, hospitals and security companies if it senses any problem. It will call relatives if the owner collapses or fails to get out of the bath.

Cameras implanted in the "eyebrows" of the robot enable it to "see" as it moves around in an apartment. The images can be transmitted to the latest mobile telephones, which display the pictures.

Wakamaru speaks with either the voice of a boy or a girl. It is also designed to provide companionship, greeting its master, when he comes home. Based on a vocabulary of around 10,000 words, it is the first household robot which is able to hold simple conversations. It can not only speak, but also understand answers and react accordingly.
 


It will ask "Are you all right?" if its owner does not move for some time. If the answer is no, or there is no answer, it will telephone preset numbers, transmitting images and function as a speakerphone. It can recognise up to 10 faces. It can be set to remind forgetful people when it is time to take medicine, eat and sleep.

However, like most robots, it cannot climb stairs.

Automobile manufacturer Honda Motor Co. Ltd. of Japan has developed Asimo, a human-like robot, which could one day perform useful tasks for their human master and be a useful household companion. International Business Machines Corporation and other companies are using it as a high-tech receptionist and hospitality robot.

Asimo is 120 cm tall, which was the minimum height a robot needed to move effectively around a home, given the height of such objects as tabletops, doorknobs and stairs.

Today, it is expensive but in about 10 years, it would be cheap and smart enough to fetch a glass of water, when requested to do so.

A home "guard dragon" robot has been unveiled in Japan. The four-legged robot can sense smoke and alert its owners to a smouldering fire, via a howl or a mobile phone text message. Banryu was developed by two companies, Sanyo and Tmsuk.

It is one metre long, 80 centimetres high, 70 centimetres wide and weighs 40 kg. It can move at a top speed of 15 metres per minute, which is "more than fast enough for a home robot designed to travel in confined, cluttered spaces," Sanyo says. The guard dragon can "confidently" walk over 10-centimetre gaps or climb a 15-centimetre high step using sensors located on its legs.

Owners will be able to switch Banryu into any of the three operating modes. The remote control mode allows users to send commands and receive information via mobile phone. In care-taking mode, the robot will patrol the house and report back if it senses someone walking close by, or finds smoke.

In pet mode, Banryu will act like a pet dog, obeying commands such as "sit" or "paw", Sanyo says. Sanyo and Tmusk plan to start taking pre-orders in December, and start selling an initial batch of 50 of the robots for about $ 16,400 next year.

Last year, Fujitsu unveiled a similar home robot that can monitor an entrance hallway or check on a pet, sending video images to the owner’s mobile phone. The Maron-1 can also control appliances such as air conditioners. Fujitsu says it hopes to put the vacuum cleaner-sized robot on sale for about $ 1625 within one year.